Page 72 of Daddies of the Underworld

Sofia twirled, the little pom-pom on her hat flopping to the side. “It has dragons. Dragons on the windows. Dragons on the bookshelves. Ms. Amanda says that she’ll give me one when I turn six.”

I made a mental note to ask her exact birthday. We rounded the corner, and Sofia pulled ahead, tugging on my arm and bouncing. I scooped her into the crook of my arm. “Ready? We’re making a run for it.”

Nina laughed. “Sofia, what’s the rule?”

“Look both ways before you cross the street.” She gripped the collar of my coat. “Go, Luca.”

I broke into a slow jog, pausing to check the street before I crossed, stopping outside a large brick building with a logo of a dragon sleeping on top of a pile of books covering half a window.

Sofia pulled on my collar. “We have to see the dragon shelf that way.” She pointed, and I followed her directions past the front shelves packed with paperbacks, around the corner, and into a nook toward the back with beanbag chairs and shelves with children’s books and what appeared to be 3D printed dragons.

I lowered Sofia to the floor, and she bolted toward the nearest shelf. “Some dragons are scary, but some are nice. And some are only mean because people steal from them.”

“Sounds like a good reason to be unpleasant.”

Her head swung around, that curious gaze locking on. “Have you ever been robbed?”

“I have.” Nina rounded the shelf and gave me a look. I winked at her and pointed at Dante. “He stole my cannoli once.”

“You have no evidence.” For once in his life, Dante did his best to play along.

It was so unexpected, I almost forgot what we were talking about. I recovered with a shake of my head. “Because you ate it all.”

Sofia giggled, then clapped a hand over her mouth.

Oh, my little star. I would spend the rest of my life making sure she laughed like that, with utter abandon, every single day.

“Where should we sit?” I rested my hands on my hips.

“There.” Sofia pulled on my jacket, leading me to a beanbag chair in the corner.

I sank into it, expecting her to take the seat next to me, or across the room. Instead, she grabbed a book from the shelf and climbed into my lap.

She settled against me, her head in the center of my chest, and opened the book. “I read. You do the monster voices.”

“Okay.” It was all I could do to say that one word. But she was counting on me to get it right, so I sucked up my emotions and put all my effort into making the best monster voices I could.

Matteo bought her the entire stack of books when she declared the one we’d read her new favorite. Nina objected–naturally–but Matteo ignored her, then added a wooden chess set from the display near the register.

Sofia bounced over, her cheeks pink and excitement making her even more giddy and bubbly. “I’m going to learn how to play chess. Matteo said he’d teach me.”

“He’s very cunning. You’ll have to pay attention.” I tapped the end of her nose. “Ready to go home?”

She took my hand and pulled. “Yes. I want noodles.”

Nina covered her face with both hands, her laughter slipping out between her fingers. Dante rubbed her back, his smile as rare a treat as his earlier ribbing comment. Nina and Sofia were changing us. They gave us back our light, our hope.

I’d kill anyone who even thought about taking them from us again.

25

NINA

It took Matteo a week to teach Sofia how to play chess. By the end of the third week, she had stopped asking them every single morning if they were going to be there the next day.

Somewhere between wanting to keep Sofia safe in case they changed their mind, and understanding they would rather die than hurt her, three new place settings had been added to my table. I’d stood in the kitchen yesterday, hand on the cabinet door as I stared at the stack of plates. Sofia’s purple one, mine with the chip on the edge, and three plain white plates that had showed up a week ago. They had not demanded we come back to Italy, had not tried to take over my life, and had somehow turned my apartment into a place that sounded full even when no one was talking.

That should have made things easier.